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“Year of Courage”. This Eco di Bergamo headline for the start of the Atalanta season is more about the city’s fight against the coronavirus. But the team will also have to get bolder after the previous phenomenal season. For the first time in its history, it is a favorite. A place in the Top 4, the fight for the Scudetto and a return to the Champions League playoffs are considered the responsibility of the “Goddess”. Next year will also be a year of courage for Ruslan Malinovsky. He started his cadence at the club very well, but still not enough in the starting lineup. And now there are new rivals. We will have to fight from the first minutes.
A victim of your own success
In the previous two seasons, and especially in the last, “Atalanta” has set an unprecedented bar. Never in its history has it been in the Top 3 of Serie A, it has not scored 78 points, it has not won 23 games, it has not given a streak of nine wins in a row and 17 games in a row without a loss in a season. He never scored 98 goals in a league season. No Serie A team has scored so much in one season in the last 68 years. No team had three players who scored 15 or more goals in Serie A in one season. What the Bergamanos demonstrated in the 2019/20 season will not soon be forgotten.
A year ago, after third place, the president of the club, Antonio Percassi, used to affirm that the main objective of the team for the next season is to remain in Serie A. Now at least he stopped talking about it. Officially, there are no goals for the 2020/21 season, except, as team creator Gian Piero Gasperini put it, to keep wowing and progressing. But the club speaks of the desire to retain a place in the Champions League zone and re-enter the Champions League playoffs. And around him they even demand to fight for the Scudetto, even if the coach calls it the dreams of the press and an impossible development of events.
The high demands are in Malinovsky’s favor. In the season before, I named him Best Supporting Hero, Audience Award Winner at a Beauty Pageant. As for the minutes played in the league, he is only 14th in the team, of the outstanding players who have been there all season, surpassing only Luis Muriel. For his only ten games with more than an hour on the field. In the Champions League, he only has one appearance in the starting lineup. Meanwhile, Alejandro Gómez, Josip Ilicic, Mario Pashalich, Muriel had the best season of their careers. Therefore, the demand for them will be greater.
Victim of a breakthrough
In these rare minutes, Ruslan demonstrated high efficiency. In terms of goals per minute in the league game, he is fourth in the team. By dribbling, fouls won, assists for shots per game – the third, in the “crosses” – the second. In the new season, he will receive more playing time, it is reasonable to assume that he will give more TTD. His attacks, called “torpedoes” and “mysteries of the universe” in the press, have gone nowhere. And in terms of physical form, experience, thought, he added undoubtedly. He did not fail in his first season in Italy, unlike many stars. And in the second it should be easier.
At the same time, the syndrome of the second season is also active in Serie A. For a year, Ruslan’s cost for Transfermarkt jumped from 11 to 21 million euros. He also set the bar high by scoring and excelling in big, tough games. Goals against Lazio, Juventus, Manchester City, the toughest matches against Verona, Parma, Fiorentina, assist against Shakhtar, penalties won against Inter and Milan, all remained in memory. It is unlikely that “Atalanta” will again reach 98 goals and break all of them, so the lack of help from the Ukrainian will be noticed in difficult matches.
Ruslan played weaker not at the beginning of the season, but a little later: in October, November, then he picked up the yellows and received a red card, he seemed exhausted, he often did not have time to tackle. This tight season with six rounds midweek and Champions League matches each week will be the most difficult from October to November and December. For the whole team. After all, in the previous “Atalanta” he played much worse with two games a week. In the summer, after three weeks of such a game, she was impressed and in the last five games she looked worse offensively than ever in Gasperini’s cadence.
Staff struggle
The staff situation is also unclear. The other day Gasperini declared again that he does not like the rotation, calling it the antithesis of team building. Also, in the summer, he was one of the few who opposed five replacements. However, in September Atalanta increased its rotation opportunities. And especially in the attack of 98 goals. Not only Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel can play in the center forward position, but also Sam Lammers, who was bought at PSV. On the right, in addition to returning Ilicic, Pashalich, Malinovsky and newcomers Miranchuk and Pessina can play. The latter can play in the center of the field.
Malinovsky’s starting position appears to be strong. For a year he from the status of exclusively “vice Gómez” (as his coach thought) broke into Ilicic’s position. The Slovenian and the Argentine are already 32 years old, the former has not finally come out of the depression and at the beginning of the season he is definitely not ready to play. Pessina and Miranchuk are injured, the former is still more of a defensive midfielder and the latter expects the same as Ruslan himself a year ago: a tough run in the team for the season. The Ukrainian said he had learned more in six months at Atalanta than in all his time at home. They are unlikely to teach better in Russia than in Ukraine.
If we briefly highlight the two main trump cards, then for Gómez it is a pass and dribble, for Ilicic – a movement from the wing and a crooked shot from the distance, for Pashalich – assistance in the selection and connection to the penalty area without the ball, for Miranchuk – connecting Pashalich and hitting Ilicic, for Pessina he is clearly the main selection. And Ruslan? Has dribbling and cannon shots.
That is, to get out of pressure, get ahead with the ball, threaten the goal from a distance, it is very useful. As well as in quiet transfers. And by connecting to the penalty area without the ball, he won a penalty against Inter, Milan, he scored against Juventus.
In terms of passes per minute in the league, he was ahead of Pashalich and Gómez, judging by the style of play, will be ahead of Miranchuk and Pessina. And this despite the fact that it used to come out as a replacement, which is always a drawback. Because Gasperini has already announced that he will try it in midfield. Gasperini himself, who had previously only seen him in attack, did not believe in strikes from a distance and “standards”, even asking Ruslan to strike from afar less often. The result is second place for the Ukrainian and Muriel in the Top-5 leagues in goals with such goals (6 each) after Lionel Messi. And 20 of these heads of command. After just 14 in the previous two seasons combined.
On the other hand, closer to the center of the field, Malinovsky already played a year ago. And in those games, the player and his team looked inhibited, gray in attack. High pressure is extremely important to her, and with a 3-5-2 scheme it is ineffective. And if Ruslan is one of the only two defensive midfielders, you will have to practically re-train, learn to be careful, look not only ahead, but also to the rear and to the sides. On the right, in attack, the coach prefers Pashalich. I will also note the decline of the Ukrainian in the penalty shooters list from second to third place. And in the execution of free throws, he is already below Miranchuk.
As you already understood, the possibilities of “Atalanta” this season, I am somewhat skeptical. Perhaps you have already reached the ceiling, the calendar is not in your favor. Juventus and Inter are scary, Milan and Napoli are awake, Rome and Lazio are also dangerous. Strategic breakthrough is needed. This could be Malinovsky’s breakthrough in attack or in midfield. In the latter case, he is capable of modifying the position and even part of the principles of the Atalanta game as a whole. In any case, it appears that Ruslan will return from the depths. However, in the previous season, this did not stop them from remembering him.
Photo – Atalanta.it
